We've enjoyed spending extra time with my family up on Rocky Ridge Plantation over the Christmas holidays. We've especially enjoyed having my brother Luke back from Texas - the last time we saw him was this time last year. This year there was lots of snow, ice, and rain to welcome him back to the north woods. There are some photos of our holidays up on Flickr now.

Researchers from the Royal Botanical Gardens have described nearly 300 new species, a 46% increase over 2008, including seventeen new trees and seven new types of wild coffee! Unfortunately, the realm of the unknown (species that have yet to be described) is being destroyed at an equally rapid pace.

While preparing for a BBC expedition last year, Felicity inquired about access to Kitulo National Park after coming across my photos on Flickr. So it was fun to come across her expedition here on the BBC site last week!